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In Reply to: RE: 30 day trial posted by mbnx01 on January 27, 2016 at 15:27:15
Fig.7 Direct Acoustics Silent Speaker II, spatially averaged, 1/6-octave response in JA's listening room (red trace); and of BBC LS3/5a (blue).
QUOTE
Though it's fair to say that the Direct Acoustics Silent Speaker II did better with classical music than with rock, it's still a very well-balanced design at an affordable price, with a totality of performance that exceeds the sum of its parts. I'm not surprised that John Marks liked it as much as he did.
John Atkinson
Read more at http://www.stereophile.com/content/direct-acoustics-silent-speaker-ii-measurements#zqIguKdSr4HjQprH.99
JM SAYS:
And in the all-important midrange, FROM A LISTENING POSITION, they were pretty much ying and yang with JA's reference pair of vintage LS3/5As.
DISCLOSURE: On more than one occasion, Winslow Burhoe and his wife have burst out laughing at my R-rated sense of humor.
ATB,
John
Follow Ups:
Please explain to me the necessity of the disclosure.
jm
If these are ying to the LS3/5a's yang and I love LS3/5a's does that mean I'd hate these?
"To Learn Who Rules Over You, Simply Find Out Who You Are Not Allowed to Criticize."
-Voltaire
Any version of the LS-3/5a or Harbeth P3ESR will utterly SUCK with Tiesto and AC/DC though. Bigger scale classical or jazz (big band) will also stink. And while the OP wants a speaker that leans more to classical and jazz - his criteria does include those genres.
JA doesn't hold much value for speakers with any sort of dynamics ability which is why he tends to favor all these weak willed no bass, no dynamics, early compression boring ass froo froo speakers.
Put in Nightwish or sklipknott and crank the dial. If it can't do that competently it sure as hell isn't doing the 9th!
I hope John sees your comment and replies. I'd be shocked if he agrees with your comment. That he loves the LS3/5a probably just indicates he knows its pluses and minuses and uses them appropriately.
Yes there are some pluses that I noted in a review - mainly if you have a small room. But their limits outweigh the pluses and current prices of new versions are frankly far too high for the sound on tap.They've been bypassed by much better sounding speakers over the years that are more coherent have better bass and treble and midrange and cost less.
I get the appeal of them here in Hong Kong, where I live, where apartments are tiny - but for Americans in American sized homes?
A decent LS3/5a sells for more than the CV I mentioned above - the CV has a bit of an unrefined treble (but then so does every LS-3/5a so the only real weakness of the CV isn't beaten by the LS-3/5a enough to make up for the 4 extra octaves the ability to play multiple times louder with scale dynamics and weight and also be easier to drive.
Amazingly they sell those big CVs here in HK as well and people are willing to stuff them in motor home sized apartments. Crank up AC/DC or Tiesto or Beethoven's 9th and the CV will trounce any LS-3/5a.
Now the CV may be unrefined in spots - it will bring in more colouration and probably a little box thump that will ride with the rest of the sound but the visceral live sensation will at least be somewhat present (and never is on any LS-3/5a).
I think if one makes a T chart on the strengths and the kind of music that can be played - there will be a much greater list of pluses favouring the CV or something like the CV than tiny - please the wife - speakers.
Note: not just picking on the LS-3/5a - I generally feel that way about most all small box speakers. I mean I own the LS-50 and the Audio Note AX Two and have had others - whenever I read the words AC/DC or music like Tiesto as something the OP intends to play (and why mention them if you don't) then I look at the recommendations and usually scratch my head. All of these kinds of speakers generally suck with that sort of music. And indeed, both of my two small speakers both have much better bass and dynamics than any LS3/5a and will kill them on music like AC/DC and Tiesto. And geez both of these cost less money to boot.
The KEF is a fine speaker.
Edits: 01/27/16 01/27/16
I agree with your comments on the speakers. That wasn't what I reacted to.It was the implcation that John Atkinson liking the LS3/5a meant he didn't like speakers with dynamics. I doubt that's true. Just that he likes what the LS3/5a does well does not imply a dislike for dynamic reproduction.
And the LS3/5a was not designed to be used the way audiophiles use it. It was designed for close up monitoring in cramped spaces with just a few feet of space.
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